Benefits of Keto

A little appreciated (but important) fact: for most of human history, a regular person would be regularly exposed to ketosis.

This was mostly light and transient, sometimes more protracted. But they were never far from a mildly ketogenic state for many reasons. Food availability wasn’t always a sure thing, after all.

Metabolic flexibility was honed with longer fasts as well as shorter stretches induced by compressed eating windows that came of a day away from camp or extended hours before morning meals.

Even in recent decades, people relied more on set mealtimes with little to no snacking in between, meaning more chances for ketosis. Being fat-adapted as a result conferred benefits beyond the immediate flexibility in energy sourcing. The evidence is present in research today….

Fat Loss

Although keto is not a classical weight loss diet, it can and does help people lose body fat. After all, to generate ketones without eating ketogenic precursors, you have to liberate stored body fat.

But that’s not the main mechanism for ketogenic fat loss. Ketosis doesn’t melt body fat away like products touted on late night infomercials promise. Instead, it works for many of the same reasons a standard low-carb Primal way of eating works: by reducing insulin, increasing mobilization of stored body fat, and decreasing appetite.

This is the very real “magic” of metabolism.

Ketosis suppressing appetite may be the most important feature. The overriding drive to eat more food is the biggest impediment to weight loss, and it’s the reason why most diets fail. When people attempt to eat less food despite wanting more, they butt up against their own physiology. Few win that battle.

Ketogenic diets are especially effective for massive weight loss. If you have a ton of weight to lose, aiming for ketosis could help you lose body fat. Again, not because of any inherent fat-burning quality of the ketones, but because in order to make ketones you must liberate stored body fat.

Cognitive Function

Since ketosis can help with major brain disorders, many have wondered whether it can improve cognitive function in otherwise healthy people. Unfortunately, researchers haven’t studied the nootropic effects of ketogenic diets in healthy people—yet. They have looked at people with “milder” cognitive deficits, though, finding some promising effects.

There’s reason to believe ketone-induced mitochondrial biogenesis in the brain will improve its function. Ketosis upregulates mitochondrial biogenesis in the brain. It literally creates new power plants in the brain that are good at burning fat-derived fuel.

This upregulation is actually responsible for the anticonvulsant benefits in patients with epilepsy, and, likely, the benefits seen in other brain disorders with glucose uptake problems. By providing an alternate source of brain power, brains that don’t run so well on glucose can begin burning fat. There’s no indication that ketosis only induces mitochondrial biogenesis in “unhealthy” brains. It simply hasn’t been studied yet, but I don’t see why it wouldn’t also build mitochondria in healthy brains.

For one, extra energy sources are always nice to have. That they might improve the way your brain works makes intuitive sense.

Anecdotes abound of people with intact cognitive function going on ketogenic diets and experiencing huge benefits to their mental performance. I’ve been experimenting with more protracted ketosis for some time now, and I can add my hat to the pile.

“Keto Clarity”

According to a very interesting post from Dr. Bill Lagakos of the always interesting Calories Proper blog, ketosis has the potential to alleviate brain fog. There’s a lot of biochemistry thrown around, so geeks are advised to read the post in full, but two big, relevant takeaways are these:

Ketosis increases GABA signaling. GABA is the “chill-out” neurotransmitter. It opposes glutamate, the excitatory neurotransmitter. We need both for cognitive function (or else we wouldn’t make both), but too much glutamate can lead to neuronal injury and neurodegeneration. GABA is the counterbalance.

Physical Performance

Being keto-adapted likewise has several advantages for anyone interested in physical performance.

For one, it increases energy efficiency.

At any given intensity, a keto-adapted athlete burns more fat and less glycogen than a sugar-burning athlete. Long-term elite keto athletes can burn up to 2.3 times more fat at peak oxidation and 59% more fat overall than non-keto athletes, and they do it at higher intensities. They remain in the predominantly fat-burning zone at 70% of VO2max, whereas non-keto athletes switch over from predominantly fat burning to a spike in sugar-burning at 54.9% VO2max.

It also spares glycogen. Glycogen is high-octane fuel for intense efforts. We store it in the muscles and liver, but only about 2400 calories-worth—enough for a couple hours of intense activity at most. Once it’s gone, we have to carb up to replenish it.

Keto-adaptation allows us to do more work using fat and ketones for fuel, thereby saving glycogen for when we really need it. Since even the leanest among us carry tens of thousands of calories of body fat, our energy stores become virtually limitless on a ketogenic diet.

It builds mitochondria. Mitochondria are the power plants of our cells, transforming incoming nutrients into ATP. The more mitochondria we have, the more energy we can utilize and extract from the food we eat—and the more performance we can wring out of our bodies. Ketosis places new demands on our mitochondria, who adapt to the new energy environment by increasing in number.